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Liberhan flays media on Babri coverage
Ruckus in Delhi, calm in Ayodhya
Panel may seek reframing of charges
Not responsible: Cong |
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Apex court reprimands Punjab on land use
Telangana Cause
Rahul woos youth in Rajasthan
Anti-terror force gets going
India, Nepal settle border dispute
AIDS scene remains grim in Manipur
Manipur militant outfit hails Maoists’ upsurge
Give Rs 3.4 cr to Uphaar victims, Ansals told
3D IGRT system for cancer centre
SHO suspended for booking minor under Goonda Act
Karunanidhi sheds tears for Prabhakaran
Andhra halts iron mining
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Liberhan flays media on Babri coverage
New Delhi, November 24 The state authorities neither took any preventive step to protect the journalists nor intervened when the assault was being carried out nor took any steps to save the mediapersons from the wrath of the assaulters, the commission said in its report, which was tabled in Parliament today. In a lengthy chapter --- The Assault on the Media --- in its voluminous report, Justice MS Liberhan was harsh on the media as well for its coverage of the Ayodhya events. He quoted witnesses to say the media had played a crucial role in whipping up the imagination of the people. The widespread and admitted perception of the common man that the ‘rath yatras’ were divine symbols was also blamed on the media. The reporting by a section of the media, notably the local and vernacular press, used to present half-baked information and theories. The report said, “the media may indeed have transgressed its boundaries when it came to highly emotive and polarising the issue of Ayodhya. It is indeed possible that the media might have contributed in no small part in fanning the flames and caused senseless violence, destruction and deaths. However, none of this can be a justification for the blatant attack on the media and the denial of the right of the people to obtain information from the mass media organisations.” Pointing out that unlike other learned professions like those of doctors or lawyers, the media in India has no professional standards body capable of effectively dealing with yellow journalism, Justice Liberhan regretted that the Press Council of India has no authority to hear complaints from persons aggrieved of questionable reporting and effectively punishing a journalist. The report said there was a dire need for a body on the lines of the Medical Council of India or the Bar Council of India which has a permanent tribunal which could entertain and decide complaints against individual members of the press corps or against newspapers, TV or radio channels as also media conglomerates. In the action taken report (ATR), the government stated that the Information and Broadcasting Ministry would be requested to examine the desirability and feasibility of establishing a tribunal or a regulatory body for the purpose. Justice Liberhan also strongly recommended that a statutory body be set up to oversee the media in the country. It was desirable that journalists ought to be given licenses just like the practitioners of other learned professions and ought to be subjected to disciplinary action, including suspension of the right to work as journalists on grounds of proven professional misconduct.
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Ruckus in Delhi, calm in Ayodhya
Ayodhya, November 24 People on the streets go about their normal work and appear apprehensive at being questioned on their reaction to the Liberhan report. “You media folks descending here signal trouble. We want peace so that we can go about our daily business,” says Munna who runs a religious cassette shop near Hanumangarhi. The news that after spending 17 years and Rs 8 crore, the Liberhan Commission has come to the conclusion that the demolition was a planned attack involving top icons of the Ram Mandir Movement - LK Advani, MM Joshi, and even former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee - brings no animated response. “All this is common knowledge for us. We have made all efforts to forget the painful events of that day. But by repeatedly focusing on them since yesterday, the media is rubbing salt into our wounds. What we dread is some foolish people again taking political advantage of all this,” said Sayed Manzaar Abbas, an office-goer in Faizabad. After the demolition of the Babri Masjid, frenzied karsewaks killed 16 Muslims and burnt down 267 houses and shops in Ayodhya and Faizabad. However, even the families of the dead show little interest in the commission’s report. Mohammad Iqbal takes care of his family of eight persons by making handmade “khadau” (wooden clogs) worn by priests. On that fateful day, karsewaks had burnt his house, barely 100 m from the house of the main petitioner in the Babri Masjid civil suit, Mohammad Hashim Ansari. Except for replacing the wooden doors and windows by that made of iron, the house has not been repaired. He has tied a plastic sheet under the dilapidated roof to protect his family from its sudden collapse. “I don’t care if anyone is sent to jail or hanged. I have moved on and want to forget those events,” is all he has to say about that report. Most of the victims have since tried to rehabilitate themselves and don’t even want to be reminded of the demolition, the riots or anything to do with it. Editor of Faizabad daily Janmorcha Shitla Singh, however, condemned the commission report, “Which fact or analysis has this commission brought out which we did not already know? The report took so long as Justice Liberhan spent 17 years bargaining with the BJP.” Speaking in a similar tone, convener of the Hilal Committee Khaliq Ahmad Khan believes the commission was set up to protect the culprits and fool the Muslims. “The whole world knew who had demolished the Babri Masjid and who had invited the karsewaks. While the culprits ruled the country for so many years, the victims had little choice but to carry on,” Khaliq said.
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Panel may seek reframing of charges
Lucknow, November 24 Talking to this reporter, senior advocate and convener of the Babri Masjid Action Committee Zafaryab Jilani said, “In view of the Liberhan report, it would be pertinent to reopen criminal charges against Advani and seven others that were dropped by a special CBI court during the NDA rule
in 2002.” At the time of framing of the supplementary charges, the CBI court had dropped charges of “criminal conspiracy” against eight of the 39 prominent accused, mostly connected to the BJP and allied bodies, including the Rashtriya Swaymsewak Sangh (RSS) and the Bajrang Dal. “Now that the Liberhan Commission has clearly indicted Advani and all others, it would be appropriate for the CBI court to use the evidence available with the commission to strengthen the case against these eight who had managed to get relief,” Jilani stressed. “While I have not gone through the report, I am told that the ATR speaks of expediting the Babri cases. We would pursue this by an application in the high court and the Supreme Court,” Jilani said. He also hopes to use any additional evidence dug out by the commission in the criminal suits pending in the Lucknow and Rae Bareli special courts. After the Babri Masjid demolition, the CBI had registered two criminal cases. The case number 197 was against the karsewaks directly involved in the demolition. The high court had stayed the proceedings in that case following submission of two revision petitions by the district magistrate and the CBI. It is pending before the Lucknow Bench. The other criminal case (No 198) was to probe the conspiracy involving top BJP leaders, including LK Advani, MM Joshi, Uma Bharti, Vinay Katiyar. The case was still pending in the Rae Bareli Court.
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Not responsible: Cong New Delhi, November 24 “With a hand on my heart I am saying that the Congress is not responsible in any way,” party spokesman Abhishek Singhv said, when asked about the role of his party, which was in power in the Centre when the incident took place 17 years ago. Commenting on indictment of the top leadership of the BJP, including former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee , Singhvi said it was not possible that Vajpayee had not known of the demolition. “If he (Vajpayee) is aggrieved that he has been named wrongly, he has a right to go to a court of law to get it rectified.” he said.
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BJP projecting Atal as victim New Delhi, November 24 Interestingly the VHP, normally dismissive and disdainful of Vajpayee from the Ayodhya days and through out Vajpayee’s prime ministerial term has also come running to his rescue. Leader of Opposition LK Advani started the trend yesterday saying, “I understand I or my party being indicted. Many people say Advani mobilised the crowd, I apprehended that I can be indicted, but Vajpayee…? I worked under him and I feel the obligation to protect his honour.” BJP leader Sushma Swaraj rallied in defence of Vajpayee describing the report as “Perverse, ill-founded and contrary to plethora of evidence before the Commission.” Beyond that BJP spokesman completely circumvented the issue pleading that her party’s full reaction will come during the course of debate on the issue scheduled now for December 1. Instead she attacked Home Minister P Chidambram blaming him personally today for leaking out the report and demanding his resignation on that account. The issue has succeeded in galvanising the party and in particular prominent second generation leaders Sushma Swaraj, Ananth Kumar and Arun Jaitely dispelling the impression of RSS chief Mohanrao Bhagwat that “BJP is a divided house,” but in support of the elusive Atal Bihari Vajpayee. VHP general secretary Praveen Togadia took no names but said, “If based on this report someone is hanged who was not even present there then naturally we will set the whole nation on fire.” But when asked about Advani, Togadia said, “It does not matter who all have been named.”
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Apex court reprimands Punjab on land use
New Delhi, November 24 A Bench comprising Justices GS Singhvi and BS Chauhan said development bodies in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and other areas were responsible for a large number of court cases. It was unfortunate that these bodies did not bother about the threat to environment, ecology, green belt and safety, including high tension wires hanging in industrial areas, which also gave rise to public interest litigations (PILs), the Bench said. The judges made the observations during the hearing of petitions filed by those who were deprived of the residential plots in Mohali industrial area after the allotments and possessions were handed over to them. The court also wondered why PSIEC had gone ahead with the tentative allotment and possession and collected over Rs 40 crore even before its request for change of land use (CLU) was pending with the state government, which ultimately rejected it. Also, it was not clear why the PSIEC, which had initiated similar proposals in Ludhiana and Patiala, along with Mohali, had not sought CLU approval for the first two cities. Justice Singhvi pointed out that compared to the industrial development of Ludhiana, Mohali enjoyed only a "mini" status in this regard. It was argued that the state policy allowed PSIEC to allocate 20-30 per cent of land in industrial areas for "industrial housing," but this expression was not defined in the documents filed before the Punjab and Haryana High Court. It was argued that allotting 22 acres for residential purpose in Mohali was fetching Rs 70 crore, against Rs 36 crore that would have accrued to PSIEC if it had been given for industrial use. The move was aimed at tiding over a financial crunch faced by PSIEC. The court, however, wanted to know whether, going by this logic, the entire area could be converted for residential purpose. The allottees have challenged the HC order rejecting their plea for restoration of the plots allotted to them. The apex court has reserved its order.
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Telangana Cause
Hyderabad, November 24 Rao, president of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), will launch fast-unto-death on November 29 at Siddipet in his native Medak district in what is seen as a final push to the agitation. “We have exhausted all options. The UPA government has betrayed people of Telangana by backtracking on its promise to create new state. I am ready to become a martyr for Telangana cause,” he said. The TRS, which is in the forefront of statehood movement, has lined up a series of mass contact programmes to mobilise public support in the run-up to the indefinite fast. Following intelligence alert that violence may break out during the TRS chief’s indefinite fast, the police is preparing to thwart the agitation, ban public meetings and rallies and take several key TRS leaders into preventive custody. The sub-regional party has, however, warned the government against any attempts to foil the agitation. It is preparing to post hundreds of trained party workers around the dais, where Rao
would sit on fast, to prevent the police from forcibly shifting him to hospital. Warning that the government would be held responsible for any consequences, the TRS president said the Telangana agitation would follow the line adopted by Gujjars in Rajasthan in their struggle for inclusion in the Scheduled Tribe category. The strident stand by TRS has brought back memories of violent Telangana agitation that rocked the state in 1969 in which over 300 died. “We are following Gandhian way to achieve the goal of separate state. If violence breaks out, the government will be held responsible,” senior TRS leader and former MP Vinod Kumar said. The indefinite fast is seen as part of a strategy by TRS to regain public confidence after suffering severe drubbing in the April General Election. The TRS, which hoped to play a key role in national politics on Telangana plank, came a cropper in the polls, managing to win just two Lok Sabha and 10 Assembly seats. However, the party leadership feels that the post-YSR political scenario in the state provides the right platform to revive an aggressive campaign for separate Telangana state, a movement that was effectively neutralised by the former Chief Minister. The sub-regional party had suffered big losses during YSR regime following several of its rebel leaders switching over to the ruling Congress.
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Rahul woos youth in Rajasthan
Jaipur, November 24 Rahul landed at Sawai Madhopur around 11 am where he was welcomed by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Union Minister Namo Narayan Meena. The scion of Gandhi family held a one-to-one interaction with the Meena youths in Sawai Madhopur where the community holds immense clout and Namo Narayan defeated Gujjar heavyweight Kirori Singh Bainsla in the Lok Sabha elections in May this year. Addressing the tribal youth, he said anybody could contest the Youth Congress elections. “We have put such a system in place where all will get equal opportunity to join politics and excel in it. We are holding a convention here as we want tribal youth to join politics,” he averred. Rahul then proceeded to Kota where he interacted with hundreds of students of different coaching institutes. However, the students were left asking for more, as Rahul didn’t spend much time with them. “I posed a query on reservation in IIT-JEE and other entrance exams, but he didn’t answer it convincingly and instead stressed on the need to increase the number of seats in the educational institutions,” said Sukriti, a student. Another student asked him as to why IIT is being set up in Jodhpur and not Kota. “We wanted to ask him a lot of questions and we were eagerly looking forward to it, but he stayed for very little time in the town,” rued a group of students. Later, Rahul headed to Udaipur where he participated in a ST convention and a Youth Congress convention. Addressing the ST convention, he urged the youth to come forward and join politics. When the ST youth lamented that their leaders were not allowed to come up, Rahul said leaders would now not come from top but from bottom. The ST youth demanded that out of 12 per cent reservation for the STs five per cent should be reserved for those coming from tribal zone of the state. At Barmer, the AICC general secretary met young farmers and gave a patient hearing to their woes. Rahul will be interacting with the members of Dalit community in Bikaner and minority youth in Jaipur tomorrow. According to sources, 200 Muslim girls in the age group of 18-25 have been chosen to meet Rahul during an interactive session with Muslim youths at Ravindra Manch in Jaipur. These girls are students of Excellence Girls School (Sikar).
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Anti-terror
force gets going Mumbai, November 24 The new force comprises 216 commandos and will be headed by a DIG and
function on the lines of the National Security Guard (NSG). The members
of Force One were drawn from the police and state paramilitary forces
like the State Reserve Police Force and trained by personnel from the
NSG.
Training for the commandos were given at the 88-acre SRPF training
grounds near the Aarey Milk colony in suburban Goregaon.
At the passing out parade held today, Chief Minister Ashok Chavan
said the government was committed to providing the best of facilities
for Force One so that its members would be on par with anti-terror units
from around the world. “They will get all the infrastructure required
to make them on par with international anti-terror units,” Chavan
said. He hoped that the commandos would be one step ahead of the
terrorists.
He added that the decision was taken to set up Force One so that
deployment of personnel during terrorist attacks were speedier. It took
nearly two days for the NSG to be brought to Mumbai when the terror
attacks took place in Mumbai last year.
Chavan said the Maharashtra government had promised to set up such a
force shortly after the terror attacks and that promise has now been
fulfilled.
According to the Chief Minister, the setting up of Force One was part
of a major overhaul of the police department in Mumbai. He noted that
the police have been re-equipped with latest weaponry and they have been
provided with bulletproof vehicles. In all the Maharashtra government
claims to have spent Rs 126 crore in the modernisation programme. |
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India, Nepal settle border dispute
Nainital, November 24 The commissioner for Kumaon S Raju, who had recently been to Kathmandu at the behest of the Home Ministry for talks related to security issues, told The Tribune, “One can say that 95 per cent of the matter has been resolved. Both countries had conducted surveys along the border starting from West Bengal to Uttarakhand and have reached amicable decisions. Only the ratification at the topmost level needs to be made.” The only issue that remains to be resolved pertains to Susta and Kalapani areas. It’s learnt that matter was taken up by Survey of Nepal and Survey of India at the instance of Indo-Nepal Border Joint Technical Committee, which was formed in 1981 to maintain border pillars and resolve any dispute over the international border. Sources said strip maps of the 640-km long river border and 1240-km long land border have been prepared and discussed at length by the two sides. Raju disclosed that the talks had focused mainly on checking the smuggling of various articles along the border. According to officials, Nepal has taken the complaint registered by India about circulation of counterfeit Indian currency from its soil seriously and has started discouraging the use of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes of Indian denomination on
its soil. Officials also disclosed that surveillance along the border in Baharaich area is being strengthened to check illegal activities and proper scrutiny of documents related to a person going across or coming over to India is being started. Incidents of smuggling of animal skins have been reported from the area in the past. The officials, however, down played the activities of the Young Communist League of Nepal in the border districts of India. “They just stir up
propaganda of getting lands vacated and distributing it amongst the landless but no one is taking them seriously,” said an official. Meanwhile, security agencies along with the wildlife department officials are learnt to have intensified combing in the parts of Udhamsingh Nagar and Champawat districts that border Nepal. This is being done to take stock of encroachment of no- man’s land along the border by farmers from both sides.
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AIDS scene remains grim in Manipur
The AIDS situation in Manipur remains grim with 1,437 more persons testing positive for HIV infection over the past five months. On an average, over 200 persons are detected positive with the HIV virus every month.
According to data available with Manipur State AIDS Control Society, total number of HIV positive persons detected in Manipur till March this year was over 31,000. There are over 3,000 HIV positive children in the state. “The figure of HIV positive persons in the state can be just the tip of the iceberg as many try to conceal their HIV+ status due to the stigma attached to it. Moreover, many AIDS-affected parents have died leaving behind their children with HIV,” said Dipak, president of Manipur Network of Positive People (MNP+), a leading NGO working in the HIV-AIDS field in the state. “The state has so far recorded over 5,000 deaths due to AIDS. With people shying away from declaring their HIV+ status in the state, the virus is getting transmitted to the general population. The state government must bring about a legislation to punish stigmatisation against HIV+ persons so that people feel free to declare their HIV status,” the NGO official said, adding drug abuse has remained a bane of life in the bordering state. A threat is now looming large over the HIV positive people in the state in the form of dreaded Hepatitis C. The disease is mostly killing HIV positive people in Manipur due to co-infection. As per a recent survey, 92 per cent of HIV positive people in Imphal were affected with Hepatitis C while the figure was 98 per cent for Churachandpur. A sample survey conducted by MNP+ six months ago found 54 out of 76 HIV positive people suffering from Hepatitis C co-infection. With no government vaccination policy in vogue against Hepatitis C, it becomes astronomically costly at individual level. A single weekly dose of vaccine costs about Rs 13,000 and it will cost over Rs 7 lakh to take the entire year-long course. Meanwhile, the MNP+ has started a special scheme to bear the entire cost of education of some of the hapless HIV positive children in the state who haven’t received support from any other organisation. So far, 140 such children from poorest of the poor families have been picked up as beneficiaries under two separate schemes sponsored with funds generated from local donors.
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Bangla bandh passes off peacefully
Kolkata, November 24 Trinamool Congress, which got the SUCI’s support against its agitation at Singhur and Nandigram, did not support the bandh. Though in Kolkata and several other urban areas, there was hardly any impact of the bandh call, in several areas in north and south Bengal, its effect was partially felt. In the SUCI’s strongholds - south 24-parganas, Nadia, Hooghly, Coochbehar, Jalpaiguri and Siliguri - shops, schools and colleges were closed. The public transport and the state government buses also did not ply in some areas in and around the city. The train services in the Sealdah and Howrah sections were disrupted following protest by SUCI workers, who blocked the tracks. However, after the police intervened, the normal rail traffic was resumed. In Kolkata, several SUCI workers took out processions, shouting slogans against the state government for its failure to stop hoarding, which, they said, was aggravating consumers’ woes. In the Esplanade area, the police lathi-charged a group of demonstrators, engaged in burning the effigy of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. Over 200 SUCI workers were arrested but they were later released on personal bonds. Home Secretary A Sen said the bandh was partial but peaceful.
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Manipur militant outfit hails Maoists’ upsurge
Guwahati, November 24 “The UNLF believes that there is a common interest in the fight against the Indian state by the CPI (Maoist) and the liberation struggles of Manipur and the region. Guided by this perspective, the UNLF shall actively pursue a policy of mutual help and support with the CPI (Maoist),” the outfit said in a statement issued to the media in Imphal. The banned outfit further stated: “Internal contradictions are weakening India’s inner strength and the emergence of the CPI (Maoist), which recognises the sovereignty of Manipur as a powerful revolutionary force in India, are favourable factors for the liberation struggle of Manipur and the entire region as a whole.”
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Give Rs 3.4 cr to Uphaar victims, Ansals told
New Delhi, November 24 A Bench comprising Justices RV Raveendran and KS Radhakrishnan asked the Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT) to provide details of the bereaved families and the surviving victims to facilitate the payment of the compensation. The court clarified that the amount would only be an interim measure subject to its final verdict on the total compensation of Rs 18.5 crore directed by the Delhi High Court on April
24, 2004. Holding the owners of Uphaar cinema, MCD, Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) and licensing authority “guilty of negligence”, the HC court had directed the cinema owners to pay 55 per cent of the compensation award. The remaining 45 per cent was to be shared equally (15 per cent) by MCD, DVB and licencing authorities. MCD has contended that it should not be forced to share the burden that entirely lay with the cinema hall owners. The trial court had sentenced the Ansal brothers to two years on November 20, 2007, but Delhi High Court reduced it to one year on December 19, 2008. |
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3D IGRT system for cancer centre
Bangalore, November 24 A hospital press release here claimed that this advanced radiation technique has proved itself in increasing accuracy of radiation delivery, thus improving the cure rates of various cancers and reducing the toxicity of treatment. The machine is also one of the very few in the country with triple energy treatment mode, compared to single or double, in most other cancer hospitals, it said. The most important technial advancement of IGRT is that doctors could do a CT scan while the patient is lying on the automated treatment table to receive radiation. This CT scan is captured with the help of a special scanner. This scan and the previous one are then compared, with an accuracy of 0.01cm, almost the size of a needle head. The doctors are then able to correct any inaccuracy in the patient's position automatically from outside the treatment room and treat the patient with precision, it said.
— PTI |
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SHO suspended for booking minor under Goonda Act
Lucknow, November 24 On September 29 this year, he had lodged a case under Section 3/4 Goonda Act against Suraj Yadav, son of Hira Yadav, a resident of Abbaspur under Tarwa police station. In the challan report, the age of the accused had not only been mentioned as 20 years but even documents to support this had been attached. However, following investigation the CDO discovered that the so-called accused was a minor. The challan was filed without even verifying the documents.
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Karunanidhi sheds tears for Prabhakaran
Chennai, November 24 Expressing his views in the form of questions and answers in the DMK party organ “Murasoli”, the Chief Minister clarified that he had not criticised Prabhakaran, and had only pointed out some mistakes in the LTTE leader's approach.
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Andhra halts iron mining Hyderabad, November 24 The move comes against the backdrop of allegations of illegal mining against Obulapuram Mining Corporation (OMC) owned by Reddy. The decision was taken at a high level meeting convened by Chief Minister K Rosaiah here to take stock of the developments in the wake of a report by the Supreme Court-appointed central empowered committee (CEC) concluding that OMC the was indulging in illegal mining in Anantapur district. The CEC had recommended that all mining activity be suspended until fresh boundaries of the mining leases were chalked out. The government also decided not to allow transportation of the iron ore stocks lying with the OMC, official sources said. Along with OMC, five other companies engaged in iron ore mining in AP-Karnataka border areas will be affected by the government’s decision.
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